


Protective

by glim



Series: royal au [5]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Established Relationship, M/M, Married Characters, Modern Royalty, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-16
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-22 20:14:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8299330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glim/pseuds/glim
Summary: Arthur also cannot deny how much he enjoys this part of being married to Merlin: spending quiet mornings together, being able to be the person to make Merlin tea or coffee in the morning and to promise to look after him in the evening.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt - Merlin to Arthur: "You should probably stay back. You don't want to catch this."

Arthur makes two cups of tea, adds milk to one and is starting to add lemon to the second when Merlin walks into the kitchen. He'd half-dressed for work, in jeans and a button up shirt, but his feet are bare and his hair is still rumpled from sleep. He blinks down at the tea, up at Arthur, and back down at the tea. 

"No coffee?"

"No coffee. Not when you have a cold." Arthur leans in and kisses Merlin on the cheek. He adds honey to Merlin's tea, and adds more when Merlin clears his throat roughly. 

Merlin watches Arthur, then grimaces. "Ugh. That's going to be too sweet." 

"Yes, probably. But it's good for you. For that," he adds when Merlin coughs. "And your sore throat." 

"My throat's not that bad," Merlin says, and muffles another cough into his shoulder. He grimaces again and Arthur can tell by the expression on his face that he knows he's given himself away. "Um."

"Right. Your throat feels as bad as your voice sounds. Which, by the way, is awful." Arthur gives Merlin's tea one last stir and hands him the mug. "Drink all of it." 

"I will." He makes a face after the first sip, but doesn't hand the tea back. He takes a few more sips and nods in reply to Arthur's curious look. "Oh. It does help."

"Of course it does. Proper tea, that I can do. And toast. Sometimes eggs."

"You do eggs alright. For somebody who never has to cook for themselves."

Arthur laughs; he reaches up to smooth Merlin's rumpled hair and to touch his hand to Merlin's forehead. He's not warm, but he still looks tired, and a little pale, with that blurry sort of look about him that makes it even more obvious that he's coming down with a cold. It doesn't help that he keeps having to cough or clear his throat, and that after a minute he's sniffling into his tea. Arthur pets his hair again, and picks up his own tea to drink when Merlin leans in against him. 

"What do you have today? Tutorial?"

Merlin nods. "Tutorial, and after that I'll be in the greenhouses for the rest of the day." 

"At least it's quiet in there." 

Merlin nods again and scrubs at his eyes with the heel of one hand. "Quiet, and warm, so there's that, too." 

"I won't be home until late. I have that lunch at the castle, and Father wants me to take my visiting cousins on the museum visit with me, so that'll take up the whole afternoon and evening, probably. I think I'm meant to have dinner there, too. You can join us, if you like." 

Merlin hesitates. "I don't know. A royal family dinner?"

"You are part of the royal family now, you do realize that?" 

Merlin coughs and leans in closer to Arthur, so that he can turn his face into Arthur's shoulder. "I know. I'm just..." 

"Tired and in the process of getting a cold. It's fine." He turns to nuzzle a kiss through Merlin's hair and stays quite close to him when he can feel Merlin holding back another cough. "Come home after work, and have a hot shower, and get in bed." 

"Sounds exciting..." 

"I did invite you to dinner." Arthur nudges Merlin's head up off his shoulder and nods down at Merlin's half-finished cup of tea. "Drink, don't stand here coughing and sniffling." 

Merlin sighs, and coughs, and takes up the tea once again. 

"There. Good boy. Really, come home, relax, and when I get back I'll give you tea and medicine." 

Merlin sighs again, but this time his breath doesn't catch. He finishes his tea, waits until Arthur finishes his, and leans in against Arthur again. Arthur cannot help but slip his arms around Merlin and holds him close and warm, though the minutes they have together that morning are passing quickly. 

Arthur also cannot deny how much he enjoys this part of being married to Merlin: spending quiet mornings together, being able to be the person to make Merlin tea or coffee in the morning and to promise to look after him in the evening. His staff looks after the rest of the house, but Merlin is Arthur's to look after. The feeling expands with a warmth inside Arthur's chest that is equal parts fond, protective, and proud. He pulls Merlin in closer to him and hugs him until Merlin curls into his side in that affectionate way he sometimes has. Especially when he's like this, tired and under the weather. 

"I'll get home as soon as I can. I might even be able to get out of dinner--" 

"You don't need to do that. I won't be able to leave the greenhouses until after four, and I predict I won't be great company afterwards." 

"You'll be fine company." 

"Coughing at you, and sneezing and blowing my nose. "

"Ill person things, yes. Because you're _ill_ , or, at least, you're well on your way there." 

"... only a cold," Merlin mutters into Arthur's shoulder, suddenly shy. "You fuss too much." 

"That's probably true." He holds Merlin for another moment, then moves away and touches the side of Merlin's face. "Do you feel really awful?"

 

Merlin glances away and shakes his head. The shyness comes over him again, in a fetching manner, and he turns back to press his cheek against Arthur's hand. "You really do fuss too much. It's just the sore throat and headache now."

"You're coughing and sniffling--"

"--well, all right, that, too. But I don't feel too bad yet. Better to go into work and get my inbox cleared out before I feel really full of cold." 

"Right. I know. I do the same thing." Arthur strokes the side of Merlin's face and tries to hold onto the soft, quiet moment as long as he can before he has to move away. "I'll text you after the tutorial with your students. And let me know if you need anything?"

"I will. And if you can come home early?" 

"I'll do that. I'll be back as soon as I can." 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Arthur does as he promised; he gets to the palace as soon as Merlin leaves for the university, which means he's able to get out of dinner later on, having spent his whole morning and afternoon with his father and cousins. He does have a drink with them before dinner, and begs off staying by telling them that Merlin's not feeling well and won't be able to join them. 

Which is not at all untrue. He has a series of text messages from Merlin which, while they don't feature him describing or complaining about his cold, reveal enough to Arthur that he can tell Merlin's having a rough day. There's a tired, sniffly sounding voicemail, too, that Merlin leaves Arthur as he heads home from work. 

Arthur listens to the message as soon as he can after Merlin leaves it, and then again on his way from the palace to Clarence House. Tired, sniffly, and rather endearing, actually, he decides, and sends Merlin a text to let him know that he's nearly home. 

He finds Merlin on the sofa, curled up with a blanket and a book, his phone and box of tissues atop the blanket. 

"I thought I told you to get in bed," Arthur says. He tugs off his coat and tie, slips out of his shoes, and nudges Merlin over until Merlin makes space for him on the sofa. 

"Too early for bed. It's only dinner time."

"I suppose that's true. And I suppose that means I should have dinner sent up since eggs and toast and tea isn't quite the dinner I had in mind for us." 

"I can't believe you can only cook one thing. You can--" Merlin starts, pauses with a frown, and turns aside to sneeze twice in succession. 

"Bless you. I might be able to do a sandwich in an emergency. Soup? We should have soup, especially since I asked for soup for dinner this morning." 

Merlin sniffles and nods, and lets Arthur hand him a few tissues. When Arthur leans in to hug him, he draws back and looks uncertain. "You should probably stay back. You don't want to catch this." 

"I think it's too late to think about that. You spent most of this morning coughing at me." 

"Oh. Sorry about that... I didn't realize this was going to develop into..." He frowns and waves his crumpled tissues in front of his face. "I feel like my whole head is full of cold. I don't want you to get this." 

"I really don't think it's going to make a difference now. Come on," Arthur says. He nudges Merlin once more, just leans in and press a kiss to his shoulder, and to his ear. "I've hardly seen you this week, and now you're not feeling well. You can't ask me to not want to be close to you." 

"You have family visiting, and some royal event nearly every day for the rest of the week. And you hate being ill," Merlin points out and coughs, holding his fist to his face. He keeps coughing, and eventually has to blow his nose again after another pair of rough sneezes. When he's done, he droops against the sofa cushions and gives Arthur a pathetic look. "You don't need a cold now..." 

"Nobody ever needs a cold, Merlin. Don't be ridiculous, though. Come on," Arthur urges again. "You're not allowed to call me fussy if you don't even give me a chance to fuss." 

"You constantly fuss," Merlin says, but he doesn't mean it, not really, Arthur can tell by the way he fights not to smile and by the way he nestles in against Arthur's side. He's still sniffling, and he sounds a lot worse than he did this morning, but he manages to give Arthur a pointed look when Arthur denies it. "You do. Tea and soup and medicine, and a half-dozen texts in an hour where you're trying not to sound fussy." 

"You sent me that pathetic voicemail. What else was I supposed to do?" 

"Ugh, delete it. I was croaky from talking all morning, and by then I'd started sneezing already..." 

"That's worth a bit of fuss. Anyway, I was bored by that point. The museum visits are fantastic, but the security detail in and out of those places isn't." 

Merlin makes a sympathetic sound and curls himself in closer to Arthur, and gives a tired, stuffy sound after that. "Soup? And tea?"

"And hot medicine, yes, I think so. You're done reading for the night," Arthur says and takes Merlin's book away from him. "And, now that I'm home, there's nobody left for you to text," he adds, and takes Merlin's phone, too. He puts both their phones on the coffee table when Merlin looks affronted, and even puts his own on silent. "Alright?"

"Fair enough." He sniffles and rubs at his nose with a tissue, and lets himself droop against Arthur instead of against the sofa. "Besides, I don't really mind."

"What?" 

Merlin shrugs. "All of this. The no mobile time and ..." He sniffles yet again, and when he sneezes, he turns away from Arthur and catches it in the crook of his elbow. "... sorry, and the soup, and you being like this." 

"Good. Because you don't have a choice. But also because... it's good to hear," Arthur says. He lets Merlin turn away to sneeze a second time, and waits until he's gone through another few tissues to tug Merlin back in close. 

It's the first time he's been ill since before the wedding, and the thought makes Arthur go a bit more protective. He's seen Merlin ill before, of course he has, but now there's something more between them, and though he'll have to share Merlin with the rest of the world in a way that he hadn't before they were married, these quiet moments will always be ones that he'll be able to keep to himself.


End file.
